Awesome Travels Part Five – Lìjiāng

The hostel in Lìjiāng was a bit of a let-down. First we got put in the wrong room, and then the room we ended up in had a constantly flushing toilet that made everything smell like sewage. The bed was harder than what you usually get in a good hostel, and the breakfast was rubbish – I got a ‘shot’ of chocolate oatmeal rather than the bowl I had hoped for. When we decided to get a drink in the bar one night, they didn’t have the speciality home-made plum wine that we wanted, nor anything else to be honest! Also, the people behind the front desk were morons that didn’t seem to understand English or Chinese. They couldn’t answer questions, offer help or tell us anything about how to get to local attractions. Plus the fact that the hostel seemed to be partly under construction! But there you go, you win some, you lose some.

The main thing we did in Lìjiāng was visit Yùlóngxuěshān (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain). We looked into doing it ourselves, but with the lack of input from the hostel and other complications, we decided it was easiest to book onto a package tour.

It cost about 540 Yuan, so not a cheap day out, but worth it for the lack of stress and all the extras it included. The ticket paid for transport, park entry tickets, cable cars, in-park busses, the 80 Yuan Lìjiāng tourism entry ticket, water, thermal coats, oxygen… yeah, not a bad deal.

The day started as all early morning start for me – with a bad stomach and a long time spent on the toilet, which is just what you don’t want when you’re about to get on a coach that doesn’t have a loo. Luckily the bus ride only took an hour or so. The weather was great – we picked the perfect day (the day before there was a threat of rain, and the day after was grey and cloudy). Once in the park we were first set loose with our minibus tickets and could visit two scenic areas at our leisure. These were both centred around a lake, with forests and mountains as a picturesque backdrop. Indeed, a group of four giggling, middle ages women couldn’t resist having their photo taken with me, one by one… and there was me thinking they’d come to see the mountain!

There were cows, pigs and goats that, while seemingly wild, were very used to human company and were rather good-natured about posing for photos. After an hour of snapping away at the scenery and walking around the idyllic area we got to the bus at the foot of the cable car. We queued for about 20/30 minutes, in which time we ate some of the picnic lunch we’d brought with us (knowing that food on the mountain would be very pricey). It was at this time that we first encountered ‘the ugly pigs’ as we affectionately called them. A Chinese couple about Sasha’s age who were endlessly moronic, disgusting and just plain nasty. He was an overweight, grotesque fellow with a face literally like a pigs, clad in a thin t-shirt stretched over his mind-bogglingly giant stomach (just a t-shirt… at the top of a snowy mountain) and she, while not entirely ugly, was the epitome of stupid, dressed in hot pants and a short denim jacket… in the snow, where it was 5 degrees. I saw lots of Chinese people staring at them and tutting, shaking their heads, so I felt no shame at doing the same.

As well as offending me by their lack of sensible clothing, they also annoyed me by: pushing and shoving, smoking incessantly whist standing in a queue, the woman (who was standing in front of me) flicking her hair in my face, their endless squawking, spitting all over the place whist making noises like strangled geese… and at the top of the mountain, what did they do? Did they walk to the top? Did they take photos of the beautiful scenery? No, they sat in the snow and played games on their smartphones… gah! Some people shouldn’t be allowed into areas of natural beauty.

Ok, ugly pigs rant over now. So… we took the cable car to the top of the mountain, which was a little bit terrifying, even more so because of the wind which was rocking us back and forth and which whistled through the gaps in the door.

The views were breath-taking. You could look out to the countless other peaks and see all the rolling fields and valley’s in-between. The further away you looked, the lighter the silhouettes cast by the shadowy giants. Getting off the cable car we were at 4,506 meters. We walked out onto the ledge and looked down, past the discarded rubbish that was lodged in the snow, to the sheer drop below us. A few hundred meters away was the glacier, which the Chinese tourists weren’t paying much attention to.

Zig-zagging through the ice and snow, the footpath took us up to the highest point you can climb to – 4,600 meters, which was about 1,000 meters shy of the summit. Up at that point we used our oxygen canisters to ward off our approaching headaches, and my vision grew clearer in the dazzling brightness after a few gasps of the strange tasting air. It was a magnificent day out. Best of all was looking up to the highest peak and seeing the mist and clouds rolling over the top and down towards us like water cascading over a waterfall.

That was the main event of our time in Lìjiāng. We went to Hei Long Tan (Black Dragon Spring) which was a quiet little park with lots of tranquil water and good views of the mountain through clumps of trees parted like curtains. The old city of Lìjiāng was ok – much of it had been destroyed in the 1995 earthquake so it’s all been rebuilt and definitely feels new; that sort of tacky touristy architecture where it’s supposed to look old but actually isn’t. The whole city felt like a bit of a rip off. Every little shop and alleyway was jammed with people trying to sell tourist tat. The streets were crowded, and it was easy to get lost as everything looked the same and the signposts were less than helpful.

We preferred shopping in the local market, mingling with people going about their daily business rather than the people on holiday who were frantically cramming into every stall and shop available, each one selling the same old rubbish. In the market we picked up a few bits and pieces but on the whole we didn’t do much shopping. I love just walking around in Chinese markets and seeing what's there - you can buy all sorts of stuff. There are always some interesting foods to try too.

Lìjiāng redeemed itself a little in the food department. We went to a speciality Nàxī restaurant (the local minority) and ate fried rice, pork that was sweet and moist but with an edge of crackling cooked in mint and ginger and garlic, aubergine, mushrooms…all excellent. On our last night we ate at a small roadside place that had Mongolian Funnel hot pot with Yak meat. Yak is delicious – like beef but with a milder, creamier taste. We tried Yak milk yoghurt which was great too. There is a local type of bread called a Baba, which is circular like a burger bun and has different flavours.

Thinking about it, we had another big day trip in Lìjiāng which I didn’t write about in my travel diary, but which just sprung to my mind now (I guess I blocked out the memories – Sasha loved it, but for me, it was one of the worst days ever.) We were keen to visit the home of Joseph Rock, who we’d read about in one of my favourite travel books (Simon Winchesters The River at the Centre of the World.) Joseph Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American botanist, linguist, explorer and geographer who lived for about 27 years in a village near Lìjiāng called Yuhu. He wrote many articles for the national geographic and sounded like a very interesting guy, so we decided to visit his former home which has been turned into a small museum.

Only trouble was how to get there. The village of Yuhu didn’t have much in it so there weren’t any public busses, and hiring a vehicle was expensive, especially if we wanted them to bring us back. So we hired bikes. I’ll tell you now; I can barely ride a bicycle, at all. I hate cycling and I’m super slow. But the guy at the bike store said it would be a 45 minute/ 1hour journey, which I convinced myself I could handle. It was actually a lot longer than that, and on the way there it was all, ever so slightly, uphill. So after two hours of cycling along this main road, which was really monotonous and boring…you can imagine. I was in so much pain. Bikes and I are just not meant to be together. So yeah, a few hours of cycling up this road, not really knowing where we were going because the signage was rubbish, me crying because I hate cycling so much… oh, what a day! We did eventually find the place and had a little look around. The museum was small, no photos allowed, all quite dusty and run down. It looked like such a small, no-where kind of place that I doubted whether it had frequent visitors at all, then as we were leaving, a bus-load of Americans got out on the cobbled pathway and tramped through the gate, so there you go! We had a small lunch and then cycled back. Downhill was easier – I freewheeled pretty much all the way back because my bum was hurting so much from the cycle ride there that I couldn’t even sit down on the seat without wincing in pain. What a looser, eh? Well, lesson learnt – I won’t be getting on a bike again without actual evidence that my cycle ride will be over in 10 minutes, max!

So that sums up Lìjiāng. Not somewhere I’d want to go back to – a lot of it just felt like a tourist trap, and outside of the city it just felt and looked like a wasteland – everything was old and grey. But after Lìjiāng we headed on to our last destination on our tour of epic travels, Dàlǐ, which turned out to be one of the best places in the world… ever. So look forward to that blog post! Zàijiàn x

Awesome Travels Part Four - Kūnmíng

Kūnmíng train station was made famous two months before I visited (I arrived May 7th). It was all over the news – four knifemen stabbed 29 people to death and injured 140 others in what has been called a terrorist attack, though in China you’re never quite sure about the origins of these events. As such, a large part of the station was still cordoned off when we got there, and the rest of it was heaving with people. The old taxi rank was included in the part now out of bounds, and there was no designated place to catch a taxi – they were all mingling chaotically with busses and pedestrians while police and armed soldiers stood by. Eventually we gave up and got on a bus.

We passed a wonderful bit of Chinglish on the way to the hostel – a sign for a ‘Children’s Clothing Discounts Store’, except that the word ‘discounts’ didn’t have an ‘O’ in it… yeah…

On our first afternoon in Kūnmíng we went to Cui Hu (Green Park) which was near the hostel. There were lots of ponds and lakes which were stuffed full of lily pads. In the centre of the park it was like a crazy party – at every clearing, every tiny available space, there was a different dance troupe. Everything was catered for; there were professional groups in jingly, bright red costumes who were dancing to warbly Chinese folk music (with live musicians wielding strange ancient instruments), middle ages women doing salsa steps in sparkly high heeled shoes, a step-by-step dance tutorial taught by a camp young guy with hair like a lions mane springing out from under his headset microphone, there were people doing box step, and some that were just sort of … jumping. We enjoyed walking around and joining spectator groups of various sizes to watch the different performances.

There were also several choirs, the largest one being what drew us to the performance area. Dozens of people were all gathered round with songbooks, the lyrics all in Chinese characters. Best of all were the old ladies of the group, not missing a word, and all the while knitting furiously from wool that was jammed into the cardigan pockets.

We went to the park again on the 10th, and as it was a Saturday there were even more people milling about and enjoying the entertainment. With noise coming from every direction it sounded like a fair ground. In the outdoors café next to the choir we drank Yunnan Red Tea, which was lovely – quite mild and easy to drink.

On our first evening in Kūnmíng we ate at a local place in this area that was bursting with restaurants. There were so many good ones listed in Sasha’s Rough Guide that we were spoilt for choice, though the one we were looking for we couldn’t actually find. In the end we chose a random one, and ordered Beijing duck (with pancakes and sauce, etc), fried goats cheese with onions and mushrooms, and a spicy mashed potato dish. Goats cheese is popular in this part of China – until quite recently it’s been hard to get cheese of any kind in the East of China (I read somewhere that the Han Chinese used to associate the eating of dairy products with the savage, minority tribes and wouldn’t eat it because of that) but these days you can get quite a selection in the bigger supermarkets, all for a hefty price tag, of course. But it was nice to have fried cheese there on the menu!

On the 8th we had a quiet, relaxing day. The morning was spent near the Kūnmíng Old Street at the market that specializes in birds and flowers. There were plenty of other animals for sale in cages too – kittens, puppies, guinea pigs, chipmunks, piglets, hedgehogs, squirrels, chick with feathers dyed neon pink and green… Hmmm.

Sasha was looking at the jade and I found some lovely little teacups. The tea sets at that market were so cheap – 55 Yuan (£5.50) for a complete set. I wish I’d had more room in my suitcase so I could bring back boxes and boxes as gifts! After lunch we went to the Yunnan Provincial Museum, which was actually pretty rubbish, just to buck the trend as provincials museums are usually excellent. There was a sign outside that claimed the museum was closed, which was quite confusing because it was actually open, and then once inside there weren’t many exhibits and hardly any English translations.

On the 9th we had our big outing day. We were planning on going to Shi Lin (the Stone Forest) but it seemed like a waste of time. Over 300 RMB each at least, with 4/5 hours of travel time over the day. Reviewers said that it’s a massive tourist trap, so… no thanks! I’ve seen enough touristy rubbish over the last 2 years.

Instead we decided to go to Qiong Zhu Si, which is a temple a little way out of the city. We got bus 82 to the West Bus Station, and then looked in vain for the C61 bus. The guidebooks said we could catch that to the temple but it didn’t seem to exist. Taxis and illegal taxis gave us various prices and eventually we chose this guy because, unlike other ‘pai che’ drivers, he said he wouldn’t give us a time limit at the attraction so he can wait and take us back, he said he would just drop us off and then would pick us up when we called him later.

When we got to the temple he completely changed his tune and doubled the price that we had agreed on, and claimed we hadn’t understood him because we are foreign. We had a massive screaming match with him, and two of the parking ticket attendants came over. He tried to get the attendant on his side and laugh at how stupid we were, but the parking guy clearly thought he was a muppet and backed us up instead.

His original price had been 80 RMB round trip, and then he said 80 each way. So, 160, which is ridiculous because the distance wasn’t very far at all. I gave him 40 RMB, which was the original price agreed on for the journey up to the temple, then as he realised he was losing the fight he started to drop his price. We gave him an extra 10 RMB after that to shut him up and, on the parking attendant’s advice, we walked away, fast. The funniest thing is that the driver had been boasting to his friends before we left about how much he was charging us, so he had to slink back with his tail between his legs… what an asshole. I hate taking those illegal taxi’s in China (even the legal ones sometimes) because you occasionally get people like that who see a Westerner and want to make some money out of you. But sometimes you have no other choice – it’s either risk it or don’t go and do fun things. I’m just glad we could speak such good Chinese at that point. If we had been unable to communicate, the parking attendant wouldn’t have heard our side of the story – especially when we can say convincing things along the lines of ‘You’re just charging us extra because we’re White – you saw us and thought we wouldn’t understand what you were saying but, as you can hear, we know exactly what you said and you lied to us’. I wouldn’t recommend taking those taxis to people who don’t speak enough Chinese to put up a fight with when they’re being scammed, and I would never take one travelling alone, that’s for sure!

Anyway, after the blazing row that left us both quite shaken, the temple was a big contrast! So peaceful and serene. The main attraction was the 500 ancient statues, carved to represent the stories of the arhat. The statues (shi tou) were exquisite, just wonderful. They looked like monks, scribes, beggars, princes… all kinds of characters, and such features! Such expressive faces! Far more interesting than the terracotta warriors. The arhats were beautiful, comical, grotesque, furious…all different personalities. Some posed with open scrolls, others sat astride stags and tigers or taught tricks to ugly stone dogs. They had eyebrows that reached the floor, lips that jutted or mouths open wide. Their faces were lines with wrinkles from laughing, their arms clutching at a twisted wooden staff or held out in wild gesticulation. Feet were crossed or slung leaning on the opposite knee, and their clothes, with necklines open to the waist, were creased and rumpled like natural cloth. I wanted to take photographs but of course that would be disrespectful, so I contented myself with a few amateur sketches, trying to capture their likeness. I did find some pictures on the internet though, which some other sneaky tourist must have taken...

Though dusty, their colours were bright, but difficult to see in the dim display room, where they sat lined up on three rows of shelves, like toys in the window of a toy shop. Aside from the 500 arhat statues, the temple was much like any other. We had a vegetarian lunch for 8RMB and walked around the grounds, enjoying being up on the hill, the forest hiding the city below us. We particularly enjoyed sitting in the teahouse and making friends with a tortoise who was lazily walking around and eating the grass.
On the way back, we managed to find the C61 bus which does exist, but which leaves from somewhere near the West Bus Station and not actually inside it, which is why we couldn’t find it on the way up. From there we got on the number 2 bus and took that all the way back to the hostel.

For dinner that evening we went to the 1910 Gare du Sud restaurant, which used to be a colonial French train station. It now serves Yunnanese food with a French twist. We had plum wine, a meat platter (ham, pork, pigeon and swan – which was, by the way, delicious; so moist and soft…), deep friend goats cheese (served with sugar, which sounds very peculiar but it actually went quite well!), steamed pumpkin and Parma ham, and fried tofu served with garlic and lemongrass (although the menu actually claimed it would be served with vanilla.) It was really good, and only about 100 RMB each, not to mention the lovely atmosphere and décor of the place.
On our last day in Kūnmíng we went back to the market to pick up the little bits and bobs that had caught our eye, then a quick visit to the Yuan Tong temple, which was also near the hostel. After that we went back to the green park to enjoy the sun, although the booming music from all the different dance groups was not so relaxing! On the way to the train station we ate at Ajisen Raman, a favourite noodle chain of ours, and onwards for another overnight train. The train left Kūnmíng at 11 pm and arrived to our next destination, Li Jiang, around 8 the next morning.

(our hostel garden, and a the Yuan Tong Temple)

I loved Kūnmíng – I found it really cosmopolitan, what with all the different minorities (particularly evident in the park) and of course all the Western tourists who flock their now. There were so many wonderful places to eat and drink, lots to see and do, the weather was great and not too humid either. Also, the hostel we stayed in (the Kūnmíng Upland International Youth Hostel) was amazing – the food was great, the service was awesome, great atmosphere… yes! We loved Kunming. If I was ever going to live in China again, I’d have that city as top of my list. So, next blog to come… Li Jiang!

Awesome Travels Part Three – Chóngqìng and the train to Kūnmíng

Chóngqìng was not my favourite city on our travels, particularly with our hectic start to that leg of the journey. We flew from Jinan to Chóngqìng without a problem, and got in the line for a taxi at Chóngqìng airport to take us to the hostel. Our taxi driver was INSANE. Not only did he drive really, really fast, he also swerved in and out of traffic the whole way there, dodging between cars and sliding across three or four lanes at once. I felt very sick, as you can imagine, and was quite nervous as there was, as per usual, no seatbelt in the back. I don’t think it helps that Chóngqìng looks like some sort of futuristic land, with elevated highways twisting and winding all over the place, and high rise buildings built up and down steep hillsides to add to the chaotic effect. But we managed to arrive in one piece to another lovely hostel.

(view from our bedroom window)

We only had one full day in Chóngqìng but, as I wasn’t that keen on the city it was enough time for me. It was hot and humid and sticky; not very pleasant to be walking around in but a good deal nicer than it is to be there in the middle of summer, which my Chinese friends tell me is a nightmare – Chóngqìng turns into a furnace. The city was hilly, with mountains framing the edge of every panoramic view, and sky scrapers set at the top of hills so they loom even more so over the people down by the river.

I’m not a fan of uphill walking, and we did a lot of stair climbing in Chóngqìng. It was interesting to enter a winding stairwell from ground level, down by the river, and walk through all the tumble-down buildings and bustling markets to emerge out amongst the high rise buildings and 5 star apartments. A lot of old houses have been pulled down, the scars of modernization evident at every corner, and rubble piled up in neatly cut squares, framed by the buildings still standing. It looked like a child’s play set of houses, bunched in lines and clusters, with the demolished ones so cleared contoured as if a piece of the puzzle has been lifted clean away.

As well as rubble there was also rubbish everywhere. In several places, scattered amongst the detritus, were clumps of burnt out incense sticks that had been wedged into the ground as an offering to ancestors, like weeds growing through cracks in the pavement. Many buildings were marked on the exterior with the Hàn zì (character) for demolition. It seems that we visited just in time – how long before all those old buildings are destroyed to make way for new apartment blocks? We passed a little class of students having a lesson outdoors, their teacher’s pronunciation of the word ‘chair’ so obscure that it wasn’t until we saw the picture on the flashcard that we knew what she meant.

As for our days entertainment we were a bit limited. We were going to take the lǎnchē (cablecar) across the river in the morning, but after walking to the top of the hill, discovered that it had stopped running and would not go again until after 2. We had also planned to go to the Flying Tigers Museum, which Sash was quite interested in, but discovered that it was under renovation so we couldn’t do that. We got on the monorail a couple of stops to the Chóngqìng Museum, which the girl at the hostel said had started opening on Monday’s, but when we got there discovered that it was actually closed (a lot of Museums close on Mondays’.)

However, there was a lot to see in that area – the best of all our choice encounters was with an old lady who was selling maps and postcards. She was really sweet – a proper, wizened old lady with a squeaky rusty voice, like a well-meaning witch. She was very taken with us and our Chinese ability, and Sasha took a photo of me standing with her, which put a big smile on her face. We bought a packet of postcards and, I think, made her day.

We purchased tickets to have a look around the theatre that is right opposite the Museum. It is in the traditional style but was built in the 1950’s. There are four or five levels of seats in a plush red colour, and the stage curtains are held back by giant, ornamental strings with tassels.

After browsing in an antiques market (where, I suspect, most things are not antique at all) we lunched at this little roadside place under a bridge, where we ate rice, veg, hóng shāo ròu (red cooked pork) and pig’s trotter soup. In the afternoon we went back to the cable car and enjoyed taking that to the other side. It was great to be able to look down on all these tiny, dirty, broken dwellings, while having tower blocks at eye level, and far below, the churning, murky brown of the Yangtze River.

On the other side there wasn’t much to do; we just had a walk and looked down at the fishermen who were sat on the rocks, and we watched the boats chug by. On the path there was some old geezer with his microphone and amp, singing his heart out KTV style to the river and beyond.

Coming back to the hostel we took a leisurely walk through the busy markets, which we returned to on our last morning for Sash to buy a new bag. It was all whole sale stuff – you can buy in bulk or just small amounts. They sold absolutely everything – shoes, children’s clothes, tooth brushes, bin bags, hair bands, stockings, hats… anything and everything. It’s all built up the side of a hill, with narrow steps and stairways that are chock-a-block full of people and products. Old men, with all the strength of an Ox, carry impossibly large and heavy packages up and down, all day long. Some have carts with wheels that they load up, digging their feet into the ground to stop it from running away as they roll them down the wildly steep slopes. A crazy place indeed, and wonderful for shopping.

For dinner we ate at a hot pot place near the hostel, where we ordered entirely too much, as always, and ate it all anyway. Hot Pot is a very popular food in Chóngqìng, and Sasha was not disappointed with the level of spice. Another awesome meal to add to the list, and a great way to end our time in Chóngqìng.

Although saying that, the way our Chóngqìng trip actually ended wasn’t so pleasant. As with the arrival, our experience with a local taxi driver had us leaving the city feeling angry and annoyed. We booked a taxi to take us from the hostel to the train station, and halfway there we realised he was taking us to the wrong station, even though we made it quite clear which one we wanted to go to, and asked several times, ‘We are going to the BLAH BLAH station, right?’ So we had to pay for this taxi ride which had been about 30 minutes longer than it should have, AND he made us pay for the phone credit he had used when the hostel called to order the taxi. So yeah, we didn’t leave Chóngqìng on the best note, but as I said, not a city that won my heart anyway. Too big for my liking, too many people and skyscrapers. It was quite green for such a big city, but yeah… not one I’d be heading back to in a rush!

The train from Chóngqìng to Kūnmíng took about 19 hours. I thought that the soft sleeper rooms were pretty lush – four beds to a room, a closing door, a table… yeah, all good. For most of the journey we had one companion who kept to himself. Our beds were the two bottom bunks, and during the day we asked if he wanted to sit there, but he spent most of the time just sitting in the corridor, looking out the window. The train seemed to be going pretty slowly to me, certainly slower than the one we took from Yan Tai. The area we went through was very mountainous. We cut through them in tunnels and sliced straight between them, constantly curving and winding our way. The river stayed with us for much of the journey, and we snaked alongside it.

We passed through a few little towns but mostly all we saw were villages. Sometimes just one building would be stood alone on a foothill. A lot have got corrugated tin for the roof; most dwellings were pretty basic, surrounded by sporadic patches of farmland and occasional graves dotted on the hillside. Most of our journey took place at night, and we disembarked at Kūnmíng in the early morning of May 7th...